2009 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2009.

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Events

1.jpg|thumb|Miracle On The Hudson]]

Herta Müller

• April 21 – UNESCO launches the World Digital Library.^[1]
• May 1 – Carol Ann Duffy is appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, the first woman in the position;^[2] she is also the first Scot and the first openly gay occupant of the post.^[3]
• May 5 – J. R. R. Tolkien's narrative poem The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún in alliterative verse, based on the 13th century Poetic Edda and probably written in the 1930s, is published posthumously.
• May 16–25 – Ruth Padel becomes the first woman ever elected Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford^[4] but resigns nine days later after it is alleged she was involved in what some sources call as a smear campaign against Derek Walcott, a rival for the post.^[5][6]
• June 25 – American pop singer Michael Jackson dies of an acute propofol intoxication at the age of 50.
• August 10 – Standard orthography for the Silesian language is adopted in Cieszyn, at a meeting of the Standardization Committee of the Silesian Language.^[7]
• October 8 – Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• October 12 – Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm-Zentrum Library opens at Humboldt University of Berlin.^[8]
• November 10 – Linden MacIntyre wins the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel The Bishop's Man.
• unknown date – Australian publisher Allen & Unwin suspends its annual Iremonger Award, stating that no manuscript of sufficient merit has been submitted.^[9]

New books

Fiction

• Nelson Algren (died 1981) – Entrapment and Other Writings (collection)
• Margaret Atwood – The Year of the Flood (September 8)
• Nicholson Baker – The Anthologist (September)
• T. C. Boyle – The Women (February 10)
• Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol (September 15)
• Arno Camenisch – Sez ner
• Jan Cempírek – Bílej kůň, žlutej drak
• Chan Koonchung – The Fat Years
• Sam Childers – Another Man's War
• Kate Christensen – Trouble: A Novel
• E. L. Doctorow – Homer & Langley (September 1)
• Dave Eggers – The Wild Things (October 1)
• Adam Foulds – The Quickening Maze
• Rodrigo Fresán – El fondo del cielo
• Glen David Gold – Sunnyside (May 5)
• Philippa Gregory – The White Queen (August 18)
• Lauren Groff – Delicate Edible Birds (January 27)
• Haruki Murakami – 1Q84 (いちきゅうはちよん, Ichi-Kyū-Hachi-Yon, vol. 1–2 (May 29 – Japan)
• Yuri Herrera – Señales que precederán al fin del mundo (Signs Preceding the End of the World)
• Terrence E. Holt – In the Valley of the Kings (September 14)
• John Irving – Last Night in Twisted River (October 20 – Canada; October 27 – US)
• Rabee Jaber – أميركا (America)
• Denis Johnson – Nobody Move (June 5)
• Daniel Kehlmann – Fame (January 16)
• Barbara Kingsolver – The Lacuna: A Novel (November 3)
• Karl Ove Knausgård – Min Kamp (Norway)^[10]
• Herman Koch – The Dinner (Het diner – Netherlands)
• Joe R. Lansdale – Vanilla Ride (September 2009)
• Janice Y. K. Lee – The Piano Teacher
• Jonathan Lethem – Chronic City (October 13)
• Yiyun Li (李翊雲) – The Vagrants
• Attica Locke – Black Water Rising
• Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall (April 30)
• Nadifa Mohamed – Black Mamba Boy (c. December)
• Lorrie Moore – A Gate at the Stairs (September 15)
• Alice Munro – Too Much Happiness (August 25)
• Vladimir Nabokov (died 1977) – The Original of Laura (unfinished last novel, November 3)
• Marie NDiaye – Three Strong Women (Trois Femmes puissantes, August 20)
• Joyce Carol Oates
  • Dear Husband, (March 31)
  • Little Bird of Heaven (September 15)
• Chuck Palahniuk – Pygmy (May 5)
• Lyudmila Petrushevskaya – There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby (short stories translated from Russian, September 29)
• Thomas Pynchon – Inherent Vice (August 4)
• Philip Roth – The Humbling (November 2)
• Richard Russo – That Old Cape Magic (August 4)
• Stig Sæterbakken – Don't Leave Me
• Raphael Selbourne – Beauty (September)
• Steve Sem-Sandberg – De fattiga i Łódź
• Nicholas Sparks – The Last Song (September 8)
• Peter Stamm – Seven Years
• Kathryn Stockett – The Help (February 10)^[11]
• Mari Strachan – The Earth Hums in B Flat
• Olga Tokarczuk – Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead)
• Wells Tower – Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (March 17)
• Sue Townsend – Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (November 5)
• Ferdinand von Schirach – "Verbrechen" (Burglary; short story)
• John Wray – Lowboy (March 3)
• Juli Zeh – Corpus Delicti (February 20)

Genre fiction

• Yukito Ayatsuji – Another (October 29)
• David Baldacci – First Family (April 21)
• Jim Butcher – Turn Coat (April 7)
• Eoin Colfer – And Another Thing... (October)
• Matthew J. Costello – Doom 3: Maelstrom (March 31)
  • Dark Calling (May 2009)
  • Hell's Heroes (book) (October 2009)
• Michael Crichton – Pirate Latitudes (November 24)
• Andrew Hussie – Homestuck (April 13)
• J.C. Hutchins – 7th Son, Book One: Descent (October 27)
• Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time volume 12, October 27)
• Stephen King – Under the Dome (November 10)
• Richard Laymon – Dark Mountain (March 2009)
• Attica Locke – Black Water Rising
• Michael E. Marks – Dominant Species (novel) (October 1)
• Haruki Murakami – 1Q84 (いちきゅうはちよん, Ichi-Kyū-Hachi-Yon, Books 1–2, May 29)
• James Patterson
  • MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel (March 16)
  • Daniel X: Watch the Skies (July 27)
• Lawrence M. Schoen – Buffalito Destiny (June 1, first in the Tales of the Amazing Conroy series)

Children and young people

• Sagu Aoyama (蒼山 サグ) and Tinkle – Ro-Kyu-Bu! (February 10)
• Hajime Asano (あさの ハジメ) and Seiji Kikuchi (菊池 政治) – Mayo Chiki! (November 21)
• Brent Crawford – Carter Finally Gets It
• James Dashner – The Hunt for Dark Infinity (March 1)
• Joseph Delaney and Mark Walden – The Spook's Tale/Interception Point (March 5)
• John Fardell – The Secret of the Black Moon Moth
• Brian Floca – Moonshot: The Flight Of Apollo 11
• Betsy Franco – A Curious Collection of Cats
• Neil Gaiman – Blueberry Girl (March 10)
• Odo Hirsch – Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool
• Nonny Hogrogian – Cool Cat
• Mandy Hubbard – Prada and Prejudice
• John Hulme and Michael Wexler – The Lost Train of Thought (October)
• Erin Hunter
  • Great Bear Lake (February 10)
  • Sunrise (April 24)
  • Smoke Mountain (May 1)
  • Code of the Clans (June 9)
  • Bluestar's Prophecy (August)
  • The Fourth Apprentice (November 24)
• Gordon Korman - Zoobreak
• Reif Larsen – The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
• Ursula K. Le Guin – Cat Dreams
• Peter Lerangis – The Sword Thief (April 1)
• D. J. Machale – The Soldiers of Halla (May 12)
• Joshua Mowll, et al. – Operation Storm City (May 12)
• Brandon Mull – Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (March 24)
• Robert Muchamore
  • Henderson's Boys: The Escape (February 5)
  • Eagle Day (June 4)
• Marilyn Nelson – Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story Of The Greatest All-Girl Swing Band In The World
• Patrick Ness – The Ask and the Answer (May 4)
• Jenny Nimmo – Charlie Bone and the Red King^[12]
• Charles Ogden – Split Ends (January 27)
• Margie Palatini – Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes
• Catherine Rayner – Sylvia and Bird
• Rob Reger – Emily the Strange: The Lost Days (June 2)
• Rick Riordan – The Last Olympian (May 5)
• Amy Krouse Rosenthal – Duck! Rabbit!
• Carina Rozenfeld – Les Clefs de Babel
• Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (March 9)
• Angie Sage – Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papers (June 23)
• Michael Scott – The Sorceress (May 26)
• Dugald Steer etc. –Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology
• Maggie Stiefvater – Shiver^[13]
• Jude Watson – Beyond the Grave (June 2)
• Victor Watson – Paradise Barn (first in eponymous series of four books)
• Tad Williams and Deborah Beale – The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (July 2)
• Jacqueline Wilson – Hetty Feather (first in eponymous series of five books)
• N. D. Wilson – Dandelion Fire
• Izuru Yumizuru and Okiura – Infinite Stratos (May 31)

Drama

• Jacob M. Appel – Causa mortis
• Jez Butterworth – Jerusalem
• Molly Davies – A Miracle
• Ella Hickson – Precious Little Talent
• Patrick Marber – After Miss Julie
• Lucy Prebble – ENRON
• Sarah Ruhl – In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
• Anna Deavere Smith – Let Me Down Easy
• Zlatko Topčić – I Don't Like Mondays (Ne volim ponedjeljak)

Poetry

Main article: 2009 in poetry

• Christopher Reid – A Scattering
• Toyo Shibata (柴田トヨ) – Kujikenaide (Don't lose heart)

Non-fiction

• Olivier Ameisen – The End of my Addiction (March 5)
• Daniel Ammann – The King of Oil (October 13)
• Joshua Blu Buhs – Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend
• Michael Chabon – Manhood for Amateurs (October 6)
• Barbara Demick – Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (December 29)
• Wendy Doniger – The Hindus: An Alternative History
• Dave Eggers – Zeitoun (July 15)
• Christopher M. Fairman – Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties
• Craig Ferguson – American on Purpose (September 22)
• Brian Floca – Moonshot: The Flight Of Apollo 11
• Jonathan Safran Foer – Eating Animals (November 2)
• Jade Goody – Forever in My Heart: the Story of My Battle against Cancer
• David Grann – The Lost City of Z (February 24)
• Mitch Horowitz – Occult America (September 15)
• Michael Jones – The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat
• Thomas Levenson – Newton and the Counterfeiter (June 3)
• Mark Levin – Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (March 24)
• Norman Mailer (died 2007) – MoonFire ($112,500 coffee table edition)
• Patricia A. McAnany and Norman Yoffee - Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire (November)
• Joel Mokyr – The Enlightened Economy
• Brian A. Nelson – The Silence and the Scorpion
• Ram Oren – Gertruda's Oath
• Eric W. Sanderson – Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (May 1)
• Bill Simmons – The Book of Basketball (October 26)
• Peter Sloterdijk – You Must Change Your Life (Du mußt dein Leben ändern)
• Guy Sorman – Economics Does Not Lie (July 20)
• Bron Taylor – Dark Green Religion (November)
• Joel D. Vaughan - The Rise and Fall of the Christian Coalition (2009)
• William T. Vollmann – Imperial (July 29)
• Helen Waldstein Wilkes – Letters from the Lost^[14]

Deaths

• January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian novelist and screenwriter (born 1924)^[15]
• January 7 – Valerie Flint, English medieval historian (born 1936)^[16]
• January 20 – Sheila Walsh, English novelist (born 1928)^[17]
• January 27 – John Updike, American novelist (born 1932)^[18]
• February 18 – Tayeb Salih, Sudanese fiction writer and cultural commentator (born 1929)^[19]
• February 20 – Christopher Nolan, Irish poet and author (choking; born 1965)^[20]
• February 25 – Philip José Farmer, American science fiction writer (born 1918)^[21]
• March 13 – James Purdy, American novelist, poet and playwright (born 1914)^[22]
• March 21 – Winifred Foley, English memoirist (born 1914)^[23]
• March 31 – Michael Cox, English novelist and biographer (hemangiopericytoma, born 1948)

Maurice Druon

• April 14 – Maurice Druon, French historical novelist (born 1918)^[24]
• April 15 – Clement Freud, German-born English writer and broadcaster (born 1924)^[25]
• April 19 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist (born 1930)^[26]
• May 6 – Lev Losev, Russian American poet (born 1937)
• May 17 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (born 1920)
• June 2 – David Eddings, American novelist (born 1931)
• June 25 – Michael Jackson, American pop singer, songwriter and author (born 1958)
• June 27 – Frank Barlow, English historian (born 1911)^[27]
• July 6 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (born 1932)
• July 14 – Phyllis Gotlieb, Canadian novelist (born 1926)^[28]
• July 19 – Frank McCourt, American memoirist and Pulitzer Prize winner (born 1930)^[29]

Frank McCourt

• July 23 – E. Lynn Harris, African American novelist (heart disease; born 1955)
• July 25 – Stanley Middleton, English novelist (cancer; born 1919)
• July 27
  • Aeronwy Thomas, English-born Welsh translator and writer (born 1943)^[30]

Aeronwy Thomas

• • Michaël Zeeman, Dutch critic, poet and writer (born 1958)
• July 31 – Tim Guest, English writer (drug overdose; born 1975)
• August 2 – Adolf Endler, German writer (born 1930)
• August 4 – Blake Snyder, American screenwriter and author (born 1957)
• August 5 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter and novelist (born 1914)
• August 6
  • Jack T. Kirby, American historian (born 1938)
  • Willibrordus S. Rendra, Indonesian poet (born 1935)
• August 7 – Danko Popović, Serbian writer (born 1928)
• August 8 – Alfonso Calderón, Chilean writer and poet (born 1930)^[31]
• August 9 – Thierry Jonquet, French writer (born 1954)
• August 10
  • Josef Burg, Ukrainian writing in Yiddish (born 1912)
  • Merlyn Mantle, American author (born 1932)
• August 16 – Alistair Campbell, New Zealand poet (born 1925)
• August 18
  • Dic Jones, Welsh poet writing in Welsh (born 1934)^[32]
  • Hugo Loetscher, Swiss author writing in German (born 1929)
  • Fernanda Pivano, Italian writer (born 1917)
• August 20 – Karla Kuskin, American children's author (born 1932)
• August 22 – Elmer Kelton, American Western novelist (born 1926)

Elmer Kelton

• August 25
  • Bob Carroll, American historian and author (born 1936)
  • Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian writer and poet (born 1913)
• September 3 – Christine D'Haen, Belgian poet writing in Flemish (born 1923)

Christine D'Haen

• September 4 – Keith Waterhouse, English author and playwright (born 1929)^[33]
• September 6
  • Catherine Gaskin, Irish-born Australian romantic novelist (born 1929)
  • Nada Iveljić, Croatian children's writer (born 1931)
• September 10 – Lyn Hamilton, Canadian author (born 1944)
• September 11 – Jim Carroll, American writer and poet (born 1949)
• September 12
  • William Hoffman, American novelist (born 1925)
  • Antônio Olinto, Brazilian writer (born 1919)
• September 13 – Sarah E. Wright, American novelist (born 1928)
• September 15 – Trevor Rhone, Jamaican playwright (born 1940)
• September 19 – Milton Meltzer, American historian and author (born 1915)
• September 21 – Junzo Shono (庄野 潤三), Japanese author (born 1921)
• September 22 – Kole Čašule, Macedonian essayist, dramatist and short story writer (born 1921)
• September 24 – Nelly Arcan, Canadian novelist writing in French (suicide; born 1973)
• September 25 – Willy Breinholst, Danish author (born 1918)
• September 27 – William Safire, American columnist (born 1929)
• October 1
  • Otar Chiladze, Georgian writer (born 1933)
  • Cintio Vitier, Cuban poet (born 1921)^[34]
• October 4 – Veikko Huovinen, Finnish writer (born 1927)
• November 1 – Esther Hautzig, Polish-born American autobiographer (born 1930)
• November 20 – Naomi Frankel, German-born Israeli novelist (born 1918)^[35]
• November 29 – Robert Holdstock, English fantasy novelist (born 1949)

Veikko Huovinen

• November 30 – Milorad Pavić, Serbian writer (born 1929)
• December 2 –Elizabeth Berridge, British novelist (born 1919)^[36]
• December 5 – William Lederer, American author (born 1912)^[37]
• December 7
  • Carlene Hatcher Polite, American novelist (born 1932)
  • Pyotr Vail, Latvian-born Russian essayist and journalist (born 1949)
• December 13 – Julian Fane, British author (born 1927)^[38]
• December 15 – C. D. B. Bryan, American author (born 1936)
• December 19 – Loren Singer, American novelist (born 1923)
• December 20 – Vera Rich, English poet and journalist (born 1936)

Vera Rich

• December 23 – Grigory Baklanov, Russian novelist (born 1923)^[39]
• December 25
  • Vrindavanam Venugopalan, Indian journalist (born 1935)
  • (or 24th) Rachel Wetzsteon, American poet (suicide; born 1967)^[40]
• December 26
  • Dennis Brutus, South African poet (born 1924)^[41]
  • Norval White, American author (born 1926)^[42]
• December 30 – Jacqueline Sturm, New Zealand poet and writer (born 1927)^[43]

Awards

• Nobel Prize in Literature: Herta Müller

Australia

• Miles Franklin Award: Tim Winton, Breath

Canada

• Canada Reads: Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes
• Dayne Ogilvie Prize: Main award, Debra Anderson; honour of distinction, Greg Kearney.
• Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House^[44]
• Governor General's Awards: Multiple categories; see 2009 Governor General's Awards.
• Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction: Brian Brett, Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Annabel Lyon, The Golden Mean
• Scotiabank Giller Prize: Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man
• Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award: David Bergen

France

• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française: Pierre Michon, Les Onze

Sweden

• Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award: Tamer Institute for Community Education^[45]

United Kingdom

• Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year: Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, Daina Taimina
• Caine Prize for African Writing: E. C. Osondu, "Waiting"
• Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child^[46]
• Man Booker Prize: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
• Orange Prize for Fiction: to Home by Marilynne Robinson

United States

• Lambda Literary Awards: Multiple categories; see 2009 Lambda Literary Awards.
• National Book Award for Fiction: Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin
• National Book Critics Circle Award: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
• National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction: Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
• Newbery Medal for children's literature: Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction: Joseph O'Neill, Netherland
• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
• Whiting Awards: Fiction: Adam Johnson, Nami Mun, Salvatore Scibona, Vu Tran; Nonfiction: Michael Meyer, Hugh Raffles; Plays: Rajiv Joseph; Poetry: Jericho Brown, Jay Hopler, Joan Kane

Elsewhere

• Camões Prize: Arménio Vieira^[47]
• European Book Prize: Mariusz Szczygieł, Gottland and Sylvie Goulard, L'Europe pour les Nuls
• David Cohen Prize: Seamus Heaney
• International Dublin Literary Award: Michael Thomas, Man Gone Down
• International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Youssef Ziedan, Azazel
• SAARC Literary Award: Jayanta Mahapatra, Uday Prakash, Kamaal Khan

See also

• 2009 in Australian literature
• 2009 in comics
• List of literary awards
• List of poetry awards

Notes

• Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (Second ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198715542.